£65,000 extension at cramped primary

A PRIMARY school in Henley is raising money for a new £65,000 building.

A PRIMARY school in Henley is raising money for a new £65,000 building.

Sacred Heart wants two extra learning spaces in its tea garden that could be used for music lessons, cookery classes, school council meetings, one-to-one support sessions and guided reading groups.

Headteacher Karen Edwards said the school was tight for space.

She said: “Every bit of available space indoors is being used to the point where most days I’m out of my office so it can be used.”

Mrs Edwards said the new building would be modelled on The Ark at Shiplake Primary School, a timber-framed structure that has two learning spaces, a kitchen area and toilets.

She said: “That’s pretty much exactly what we want — an outdoor building with two small rooms we can use for multi-purpose. It would give us so many more opportunities without encroaching on or taking away any outdoor space.

“At the moment the children who have support sessions have to go in a shared area. It has been refurbished and has computers but it’s a thoroughfare. There’s no privacy and it’s not quiet.”

The school has applied to South Oxfordshire District Council for planning permission.